


Disconcerted

by afteriwake



Series: I Can Explain... [8]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Cute Molly, Cute Sherlock, Domestic Fluff, Established Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Marriage Proposal, POV Sherlock Holmes, Poor Molly, Romantic Fluff, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock Holmes and Feelings, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Fluff, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing, Sherlock-centric, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, chinese finger traps, surprised Molly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After <i>finally</i> being open about their relationship for some time now, Sherlock has to leave to finish taking care of the Moriarty problem, but he has a question to pose to Molly before he leaves, one that may leave them with another secret to keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disconcerted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IdrisSmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdrisSmith/gifts).



> And here it is, the end of the series! I had so much fun writing this series, I honestly did. It was an absolute pleasure. This series was actually inspired by the initial conversation between **IdrisSmith** and I that inspired it all, and the scene where Sherlock insists he can get out of the trap and Molly's response was all her doing. It was then further inspired by a prompt from **otpprompts** that goes " _Person A has to help Person B out of a Chinese Finger Trap, but only if B gives them a kiss._ " And in case anyone is wondering, [this](http://s11.postimg.org/76ae6u4qr/Image_For_Disconcerted.jpg) is what a Chinese finger trap looks like.
> 
> I hope you all have enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it!

It had been much better since things were out of the open. There had been hiccups, of course; when the media got wind of his relationship with Molly there was an increased scrutiny into their private lives. There were some incidents with some of Moriarty’s goons trying to make trouble, and this had necessitated Molly having to move back into Baker Street, something she had decided to just make a permanent change, much to his delight. And now there was the fact that Mycroft was trying to insist that he had to leave the country again. That was what was the current thorn in his side.

He understood that it would have come down to it eventually. Moriarty was a problem that needed to be taken care of, and he was the one that needed to take care of the problem because he was one of the people who was mixed up in the root of it. And to be honest, he wanted to see with his own two eyes that the problem _was_ taken care of, once and for all. But he was also quite hesitant to leave Molly, for a multitude of reasons. There was the element of danger, of course. He might not come back, she might be put in a position to be used as bait…all sorts of things could go wrong.

But there was more to it. There was also a sense that there was something about their relationship that was unfinished. And he wanted it to be finished before he left.

It had been weighing on his mind all day today. Mycroft had given him a deadline of the end of the week to get his affairs in order on Monday, and now it was Thursday. He’d been at the flat, ruminating on things, when Molly let herself in, coming up the stairs with a small gift bag in her hands. “Been sitting there all day?” she asked with a smile, leaning over when she got close enough, giving him a kiss.

He shook his head. “I moved occasionally,” he said, pulling her down onto his lap. He nodded to the bag. “What’s that?”

“Party favours,” she said. “John was busy at the surgery so Mary asked me to go with her while she took Abby to a birthday party. Most of the children were older but it was fun. It was themed around Sarah & Duck.” He gave her a confused look and she chuckled, lifting up the bag. “It’s a children’s programme. It’s cute. This was the goodie bag.”

He took it from her and began rummaging through it. Most of the favours were definitely aimed for the little ones he imagined were at the party, but there were a few things he imagined must have made Molly quite happy because she loved whimsical things. He knew the rubber duck was probably going to end up either on the dresser or her nightstand. Finally he pulled out a small, thin, cylindrical woven object that was green and white and looked at it curiously. “What is this?” he asked.

She gave him a strange look. “You’ve never seen a Chinese finger trap before?” she asked incredulously.

He shook his head. “No,” he said.

She took the finger trap out of his hand and then turned it on its side. She slid one end onto his pointer finger and then slid her own finger into the other end. “There. Now we’re trapped,” she said with a smile.

“Interesting,” he said, studying their fingers. He tried to pull his out but it was stuck. He frowned at that.

She giggled at his response. “Sherlock, why do you think they call it a finger trap?” she asked with an amused smile.

“I’ll figure out how to get us out of it,” he said.

“It’s really not that hard,” she said. “I could show you.”

“Let me figure it out,” he said.

She shrugged slightly. “All right. Suit yourself. But don’t take all day about it.”

He concentrated on the finger trap, trying to loosen it up, but everything he did didn’t work. The more he did, the more frustrated he became. Why on earth did they give this to _children_? It was devilishly hard. After a time he saw Molly had shifted to rest her head on his shoulder, dozing, and he nudged her. “I can get us out of this,” he said.

“You said that two hours ago,” she said with a slight yawn, her tone bored.

“Well, I’ll cut it off,” he said, nudging her again to get her off his lap.

She shook her head. “You are not going to cut my finger trap in half, Sherlock. I’ll tell you how to get out of it for a kiss.”

He looked at her. “I’ll give you a kiss if you’ll marry me.”

She blinked, as though her brain was short circuiting. “What?”

“I want you to marry me,” he said quietly. “I’ve spent all day thinking about it. Mycroft needs me to leave at the end of the week and I don’t want to leave unless you agree to marry me.”

“And so you’re bargaining the freedom of my finger and the condition of my finger trap for my acceptance of my marriage proposal?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded. “Exactly.”

He watched as a wide smile blossomed on her face. “Oh, you’re good.”

“So is that a yes?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

She leaned in, pressing her lips against his. After a moment she moved her hand in the trap closer to his, pushing the trap in, and moved her free hand to the trap, using it to hold the trap in place while she pulled her finger out. Then she pulled away from the kiss. “Yes. Now pull your finger out.” He pulled his finger out of the trap, and when he was free she took the trap and dropped it back in her goodie bag. “I don’t suppose I get a ring?”

“I don’t have one yet,” he admitted a bit sheepishly. “I suppose we’ll have to have a secret engagement.”

She groaned. “Not another secret,” she said, leaning forward and burying her forehead in the crook of his neck.

He put his arms around her. “Not that we did a good job the last time. Everyone knew before Donovan even walked in on us. Or at the very least, they strongly suspected.”

She shook her head slightly. “Why did we even bother?” she said, burying her face more in his neck.

“Because we thought it was best,” he said. “But it all worked out in the end, I suppose.”

“Yes, it did,” she said. After a moment, she pressed her lips to his neck. “You know, we really should celebrate, as you don’t have much longer left in London.”

“We should,” he said with a slight nod before shifting slightly. “Should we move this to our bedroom?”

“Knowing our track record, that might be a good idea,” she said. She pulled her lips away as he got a better hold of her and stood up, carrying her in his arms. That sense of unfinishedness was gone now, even though he knew this was simply the beginning of a new chapter in their lives, and whatever that brought…well, he hoped that it was well worth the embarrassment that had led up to this moment.


End file.
